Apsley Line

Also known as: Green Ponds Line (name used on early TGR plans for the line, refers to the original name of the area
around what is now Kempton), Brighton to Melton Mowbray Railway (name used on survey plans)From: Brighton (Junction with Main Line)
To: ApsleyOpened: 1891Closed: 1947Status: Closed & lifted
Total length: 42.3km (26¼ miles)

History

This line was one of a group lines in the south of Tasmania approved for
construction in the early 1880s to complement the then privately owned Main
Line. Construction commenced in 1888, and the line was officially opened for
traffic by the TGR on 22 April 1891, although the contractor had been
carrying some goods traffic before this time.

Traffic on the line was mostly passengers and agricultural products, but
the well established roads in the region and restricted catchment area
limited the potential of the line. Services ranged over the years from
one or two return mixed trains a day until 1927, when passenger accommodation
was withdrawn and the remaining train became nominally a goods only service.
Within a few years the goods service was cut back to first two trains a
week, then once a week, before closure in June 1947 and replacement by a
government operated trucking service.

Route

The line started at Brighton station, just on the Hobart
side of the Jordan River, before crossing the river on its own bridge (parallel to the
then Main Line railway
bridge) and then generally following the river to Pontville.
Between Pontville and Bagdad, and Kempton and Melton Mowbray, the line ran along
a similar alignment to the current highway. From Melton Mowbray to Apsley, the
route paralleled the current main roads with the exception of going around the other side
of Nannygoat Hill. Between Bagdad and Kempton, the line winds its way around the hills and
next valley to the west of the current highway.

An extension to Bothwell (an additional 12 miles) was surveyed around 1892 but did not proceed.

Map & Station list

From an 1897 Public Works chart

Time Table

From the 1939 Public Time Table

Other References

A short history of the Apsley branch line by HJW Stokes, published in ARHS Bulletin, July 1971